


Soar

by SilverDragon00



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Afterlife, Cancer, Character Death, Gen, Happy ending though, Terminal Illnesses, i guess, it's sad, like i'm really sorry how sad this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-14 18:48:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5754307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverDragon00/pseuds/SilverDragon00
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Shouyou opened his eyes in the Afterlife, he looked up into the blue sky, the warm sun shining on his skin and the first thing he did was cry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to apologize in advance for this.

When Shouyou opened his eyes, looking up into the blue sky with the warm sun shining on his skin, the first thing he did was cry. He curled up on his side, the emerald green grass tickling his cheek, and cried. He cried for his friends, who he left behind, for his mom who was alone to raise his sister now. For all the volleyball games he would never play and all the places he would never see.

“It’s okay, Shouyou, you can cry.”

His amber eyes blinked open and he looked up from where he lay, meeting the bright eyes of his father. “Dad?”

“Welcome to the Afterlife, son. I’ve missed you so much,” His father’s eyes held a bittersweet sadness as he opened his arms, hugging Shouyou tightly. “I’m so sorry, Shouyou.”

Shouyou sobbed into his father’s arms. “I wasn’t ready to die yet. It’s not fair.”

His father pulled backwards and ran his hand fondly through Shouyou’s hair. “It’s okay. You’ll see everyone again someday. But for now it’s just us.”

“I’ll see them again? When?”

“When they pass away, son,” His father said sadly. “You’ll feel a tug in your chest, and if you come here, they’ll show up.”

“Will I feel the tug for everyone?” Shouyou asked, wiping his eyes.

“For everyone you know.”

The two sat next to each other in the field that went on and on for miles. He glanced at his father’s arm and saw the words Lung Cancer written in black ink. That’s how his father had died. Shouyou glanced down at his own arm. Brain Cancer. Those two word would haunt him for eternity. 

 

X Six Months Ago X

 

“Hinata, are you okay?” Daichi shouted across the court.

“Uh, yeah, sorry I don’t know what happened,” Hinata put a hand to his head and stood up. He was about to spike one of Kageyama’s tosses and suddenly his vision went black and next thing he knew, he was sitting on the floor of the court with a few of his teammates looking at him worriedly. 

“Take a break and go get some water, okay?” Daichi suggested. 

For once, Hinata didn’t argue and left the gym to go to the fountains.

At the time, he didn’t realize that this was the beginning of something horrible. The next few days, he consistently was having headaches and short random blackouts. His mom thought he was over-working himself in volleyball, and he thought she was right. She spoke with Takedo-sensei and he had Hinata taking extra breaks. At first, it pissed Hinata off but then he started to be grateful. 

After a few weeks, the headaches were getting worse and he was getting nauseous easily. He was practicing receiving when his vision warbled and he missed the ball by almost a foot.

“Dumbass, what was that!” Kageyama shouted. “Do you need glasses or something? You were nowhere near the ball!”

“Shut up, Kageyama, don’t you think I know that!” He stuck his tongue out.

After his practice his mom took him to the clinic. Hinata told them about the headaches and nausea and everything. The doctors had shared a worried look and Hinata was transported to the hospital where he spent several hours doing scans and assessments before they took his mom into a separate room to talk to her.

When she came out she hugged him and cried. She explained to him that he had a type of brain cancer that was untreatable. 

Hinata stared down at his feet, unsure of how to process this. “What does this mean now?”

His mom burst into tears again and one of the doctors responded, “It’s untreatable, but in the early stages right now. The symptoms will get worse and more often.”

“And then?”

The doctor hesitated. “You will die.”

Hinata just stared. “How long?”

“Excuse me?”

“How long do I have left to live?”

The doctor gave him a sympathetic smile, as if that would make Hinata feel better, “A year, if you’re lucky.”

Hinata felt numb when his mom lead him out to the car after half an hour of the doctors explaining the care and list of medications he would need to be put on. His couldn’t think or react. He was going to die.

That night he lay curled up in his bed when the full weight of everything finally hit him. He was going to die. He would never make it to nationals, he would never travel, he would never grow up with all of his friends. There was so much he still wanted to do but he had less than a year. Hinata cried. He cried and screamed into his pillow for hours and ignored his mom when she came in to try and sooth him. That’s how he fell asleep, crying for everything he was going to miss out on.

The next day at volleyball practice he made sure to work extra hard and be extra happy. If he didn’t have much time left he wanted to spend every moment having fun and being happy. He wouldn’t tell anyone on his team, he didn’t want them to treat him different.

So that's how things were for a while. 

 

X x X x X

 

Until an average Thursday during practice.

He was feeling great that day, hadn’t had a single headache or blackout and was working on a few more attack combinations with Tanaka and Asahi. 

Hinata’s mouth suddenly felt like it was full of cotton and his throat seized. He felt out of place, like nothing was real and then his head hit the floor and all he heard was people calling out his name. When he finally opened his eyes again, Kageyama was leaning over him with wide, scared eyes. Someone was shouted behind him, maybe the coach, Hinata didn’t know. “W-what happened?”

“You - I think you had a seizure,” Kageyama said, a slight tremble in his voice.

Hinata closed his eyes, feeling like he was going to cry.

At the hospital later he lay in one of the beds and his mom held his hand, her head bowed and her shoulder shaking. 

“Mom…” Hinata whispered.

It got worse from there.

 

X x X x X

 

His little sister didn’t understand why he was going to the clinic for check-ups so often and his mom and Hinata didn’t have the heart to tell her, so she stayed blissfully ignorant to how sick her big brother was becoming. Day by day he got more headaches. He found that he was having difficulty judging distances.

He would reach of the remote to the TV and his hand would miss by a few inches. Walking up stairs he would trip on the steps or hit his head on doors when he thought they were farther away.

The Karasuno team was becoming suspicious of him, too. He wasn’t as agile as he used to be and he kept missing practice. One day in the club room Kageyama suddenly spun on him and said, “Alright dumbass, what’s going on with you?”

Hinata froze for half a second and then grinned at Kageyama, “What are you talking about?”

“Hinata…” He looked over his shoulder at Suga who had spoken. “We’ve all noticed you’ve been a bit different lately.”

Hinata looked around at everyone else who seemed to agree.

“You’re pale and shaky and you keep missing my tossed and you don’t move as fast anymore,” Kageyama pointed.

Hinata’s lips thinned and he sighed. “I’m fine guys, okay? Don’t worry about it.”

That night he had another seizure and threw up in the toilet for an hour. 

His mom took him to the hospital and they had him stay for a couple days. He was told that if it got worse he would have to move to the hospital permanently.

 

X x X x X

 

His hands and feet went numb a lot. He hated when it happened and it made it hard to do everyday things like eat or walk. One day his entire arm went numb but he didn’t tell him mom because he wasn’t ready to move to the hospital permanently. 

A few weeks after that he was talking to his mom and Natsu at dinner when he felt his word slur in his mouth. After that talking started to become difficult and he had to focus a lot before speaking, giving him headaches more often.

Then one night his mom took him into the living room and they sat down together on the couch. She took his hand and told him he would be moving into the hospital permanently in a few days. Hinata didn’t respond and his mom hugged him tightly and cried, running her fingers through his unruly hair. He decided it was time to tell his friends.

After practice the next day, he told Takedo-sensei and coach Ukai that he needed to talk to the team about something important, so Ukai gathered everyone near the gym doors. Hinata stood in front of the team, and he felt ashamed and embarrassed. “Um, I know you’ve all noticed I’ve been… different these past few months.”

Everyone seemed to look at each other, the air growing heavy.

Hinata didn’t know how to tell them, “The truth is, I’m - um,” He could feel the tears building up in his eyes. “I have cancer,” He said. “I’m dying.”

Nobody spoke.

Nobody moved.

Until Hinata broke into tears, falling to the floor and suddenly everyone was there, Kageyama’s arms wrapped around him, Suga’s hand on his back rubbing in circles, Nishinoya gripping Hinata’s hand tightly. Some of them were crying, some cursing, most of them saying they were there for him

The next day he was transported to the hospital.

 

X x X x X

 

He started forgetting things. Little things at first, like what he ate for breakfast or who was coming to visit him that day. 

Then one day while half the team was visiting he forgot what position he played on the court. Daichi gently reminded him and then he cried. He forgot the color of his mother’s eyes, and a picture of her was placed on the table next to him after that. It was getting difficult to talk, so he didn’t very often. It hurt his head to focus on more that one thing at a time.

Hinata knew it was bad when Asahi was sitting in the chair next to him bed, just talking to him and Hinata suddenly found that he couldn’t remember the name of the boy who tossed to him and meant the world to him. His heart rate monitor beeped frantically in the background of his own thoughts while Asahi tried to calm him down.

The setter was next to him in moments, holding his hand tightly saying, “It’s okay Hinata. Kageyama Tobio.”

“I’m sorry,” Hinata said. 

“It’s not your fault.

Hinata chanted Kageyama’s name in his head for the next two days straight.

 

X x X x X

It was a beautiful autumn night, the window open so Hinata could see the stars and feel the wind on his face. It was difficult to think. His thoughts were slow and sparse, but he knew he liked the feeling of the air rushing past his cheeks like he was a bird and it felt familiar but he couldn’t remember where he felt it before.

His mother was sitting in a chair at the end of his bed with Natsu in her lap, reading a story together. His whole team - team? what sport do I play… - was in the room with him. Kageyama sat in one of the plastic chairs next to his bed and so did Suga. Everyone else stood. They were talking and laughing, sharing volleyball - oh yeah, volleyball - stories or times they shared together. 

Hinata couldn’t recall much about himself or his friends, but he knew he loved each and every one of them. Smiling, somehow he know that it was time.

His eyes drifted shut and the last thing he heard was the heartbeat monitor flatline and someone shout his name.

 

X x X x X

 

Then he woke up in a field, looking up at the sky.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this while listen to very sad music so I am really really sorry...

The Afterlife wasn’t too bad. He often got terribly lonely, but he was able to meet a lot of his family. He found out that not matter the age a person died, they would appear in the Afterlife at the age they were happiest at. Shouyou appeared at the age he died, sixteen, and would remain that way for eternity.

He meet his great grandfather for the first time who passed away at age ninety-six - the words Natural Causes written on his arm - but his grandfather appeared at the ripe age of twenty-one.

Shouyou spent a lot of his time walking around the endless fields. It seemed like everyone had their own Afterlife, and to get to another’s Afterlife all you had to do was wish to see them. His father spent a lot of time with his brother, Shouyou’s uncle. The man had the words Store Shooting on his arm. 

In the Afterlife, thinking about something would make it appear. Shouyou had created a volleyball court only a few days after arriving. Day after day, he would stand on the court holding a volleyball, craving the rush of a spike again but he never played. It felt wrong without his team.

 

X x X x X

 

The first person he knew who died was Hitoka Yachi, who died six years after Shouyou at the age of twenty-one. That day, Shouyou had been laying in the grass enjoying the sun when he felt a tug in his heart. His father had told him that meant someone he knew had died.

He ran to the center of the field as fast as he could and saw Yachi laying there. She should be twenty-one but she appeared at an age closer to eightteen. When she opened her eyes Shouyou smiled softly at her and held out his hand to help her up. On her arm was the word Strangled. Yachi had hugged him tightly and cried.

She had been strangled by her boyfriend, is what she told him. Shouyou held her tightly until someone called her name and she looked up. “Grandma!” She shouted happily, running to meet the older women. Shouyou was sad that Yachi had died so young, but he was glad she could be happy here.

Yachi spent most of her time with her grandmother or in her own Afterlife, but she visited Shouyou often. He once asked her how the rest their friend were, but she said she really didn’t know. A little while after Shouyou had died she and her mom moved to America for business. 

One time they sat together on the volleyball court, the setting sun casting a glow around them as they rolled the ball back and forth lightly. “Why won’t you play?” She asked him.

“I’m waiting for my team,” He said with a smile.

The next person came two years after Yachi, and it was Ikkei Ukai. The man died at age seventy-seven of Natural Causes according to the words but he appeared to be in his forties. Ukai’s own father had already been there when he woke up, but he was still glad to see Shouyou again. 

“I went to your funeral,” He told Shouyou, and Shouyou felt his heart tighten in his chest. He never even thought about his funeral. “They engraved a raven onto your tombstone.”

Shouyou cried for the first time after he came here seven years ago.

 

X x X x X

 

Four years after Ukai arrived, Bokuto Koutarou arrived. Shouyou hadn’t been expecting to see him when he felt the tug in his heart, but when Bokuto opened his eyes and saw Shouyou, he cried, just as Shouyou had done. On Bokuto’s arm Broken Neck was written. He had gotten into a fight in an alleyway and the person he fought broke his neck. He appeared to be the age he was when he died, twenty-nine.

He left with one of his late cousins, and told Shouyou they should play volleyball together, but Shouyou said he was waiting.

Ittetsu Takeda was the next person from Karasuno to arrive, two years after Bokuto. He had hugged Shouyou tightly, telling how much he missed him. He died at age forty-four, but appeared to be twenty-nine, the age he was when he advised Karasuno. Drowned was written on his arm and he told Shouyou he had been on a cruise ship that capsized. 

Shouyou asked him about his friends, but Takedo didn’t know. He stopped advising the team after Sugawara, Daichi and Asahi had graduated which wasn’t long after Shouyou died. The only one he had seen recently was Ennoshita, by chance, who was now a businessman. 

Over the next five years, Shouyou spent most of his time alone or with his dad, and occasionally spent time with Yachi, Takedo and Bokuto. It was six years after Takedo arrived that Shouyou felt another tug and this time it was Okiawa Touro. It was awkward when they came face to face. Shouyou hadn’t been the first one there, it was Oikawa’s mother and grandparents.

They shook hands, and Oikawa told Shouyou that he had played against a volleyball team recently called the Ravens that held six of the old Karasuno members at a professional playoff. Shouyou felt his heart soar. 

 

X x X x X

 

A year later, Shouyou felt another tug and found Yamaguchi Tadashi in the field. Car Accident was written on his arm and when he opened his eyes and saw Shouyou, they hugged tightly. Yamaguchi was thirty-five, but he appeared to be around sixteen, just as Shouyou had remembered him.

Yachi came running to both of them when Yamaguchi had finally stopped crying. She hugged him tightly and he laughed. Since Yachi appeared to be a few years older, she was the same height as him. 

The three of them sat together on Shouyou’s volleyball court and Yamaguchi told them that he and Tsukishima had gotten together. He said that after high school they moved to Tokyo and they ran a restaurant together.

“Did Karasuno ever go to Nationals while you were on the team?” Shouyou had asked.

Yamaguchi smiled, “We did, Hinata. And we were number one.”

A few months later Tsukishima Kei arrived. When Shouyou got to the field, Yamaguchi was already there, hugging Tsukki tightly and Tsukki hugging him back. Shouyou walked closer to them and saw that he had appeared only a few years older than Yamaguchi and on his arm was written Suicide. Yamaguchi cried into Tsukki’s shirt, calling his stupid and telling him he shouldn’t have done that.

“I couldn’t live without you, Tadashi,” Shouyou heard Tsukki say.

 

X x X x X

 

Three years later, his mother arrived.

When he saw her, he cried. She cried too, and so did Shouyou’s father who was there right after Shouyou. She died of Natural Causes and appeared to be in her thirties, though she died much older. She held Shouyou’s face in her hands and kissed him over and over again while they both cried. “Shouyou, my baby, I’ve missed you so much,” She said, pulling him into her arms. 

“I’ve missed you too, mom,” Shouyou cried into her shirt.

After that he spent a lot of time with both of his parents, but after about a year he preferred to be alone again. 

Over the next ten years, a few people he knew arrive at different times. First it was Coach Ukai Keishin who died of Lung Cancer, a few women he had played volleyball with in middle school and a two boys he had played matches against in high school. Eight years after his mother arrived, Shimizu Kiyoko arrived. She died at age forty-five in a Car Accident just like Yamaguchi. She appeared in her twenties and when Yuchi saw her they held each other for what seemed like hours.

A year after that Narita Kazuhito and Kinoshita Hisashi arrived at the same time. They died in a Plane Crash and appeared in their late twenties. They became school teachers and were on vacation together.

Kozume Kenma arrived a few months later. He died of a Head Injury at age forty-six, but he appeared to be about eightteen. He wanted Shouyou to play volleyball with him, but Shouyou wouldn’t. He was still waiting for the rest of his team.

Seven years later Ennoshita Chikara arrived. He had been Burned to death in a fire that started in his office building. He was happy to see Shouyou, and when he saw Narita and Kinoshita he broke into tears. 

The next ten years, a few more people he knew showed up. People he played before, a relative, some old friends. Shouyou spent most of his time with his old teammates and visiting his mom and dad when he missed them. He knew someday his little sister would arrive, and thinking about it made his heart ache, but he hoped she would live a long, full life, and he hoped she would remember him.

It was odd seeing people he knew, most of them had grown up together, without him and he had gotten stuck at sixteen, unable to move on. Most of them appeared at older ages, at happier times in their lives. Somedays, the days Shouyou spent alone, he would cry. Because he missed out on Nationals. He missed out on growing up with his friends and starting a life as an adult and becoming a professional player. All of his friends had lived longer and even though some of them were here now, he felt detached from them. 

He told Yachi and she said she understood what he meant. 

One day, early in the morning his heart felt a tug and he raced to the field and Tanaka Ryuunosuke lay in the field. Stroke was written on his arm. He died at age sixty-eight, and appeared to be closer to seventeen. “Hinata?” He asked with wide eyes once he finally woke up.

“Welcome to the Afterlife, Tanaka.”

“Hinata!” He shouted, pulling Shouyou into a hug. “Oh, man, it’s been so long. I’ve missed you so much.” 

They both cried into each other's arms, and others from the team arrived, and they cried and laughed and talked for hours. Tanaka told them that after high school, Asahi, Noya, Daichi, Suga, Kageyama and himself went on to become professional volleyball players. They started a team called The Ravens, and their colors were orange and white. 

“They were in honor of you, Hinata,” Tanaka said with a grin. 

Shouyou’s heart swelled.

 

X x X x X

 

Two years later, Sugawara Koushi was in the field when Shouyou go there. “Suga? I’ve missed you so much.” Shouyou hugged him tightly and Suga ran his fingers through Shouyou’s hair. He had been seventy-two and died of a Heart Attack, but appeared to be in his twenties.

Yachi, Kiyoko, Tanaka, and the other appeared, hugging Suga close, telling him how much they missed him. He said that he and Daichi had gotten married and adopted a little boy, though Tanaka had already known.

“Hinata, I was so sad after you died,” Suga told him one day, sitting on the volleyball court. “Karasuno adopted a new slogan, did Tanaka tell you?”

Shouyou shook his head.

“We changed it from ‘Fly’ to ‘Soar’, because that’s what you did.”

 

X x X x X

 

Nishinoya Yuu and Azumane Asahi arrive on the same day only hours apart four years after Sugawara. Asahi was first, who died of Natural Causes at age seventy-five and he appeared to be about eightteen. He hugged Shouyou tight, lifting him off his feet.

Hours later Nishinoya arrived and everyone was still together talking so they all were there to welcome him. He was seventy-four and he Overdosed, appearing around eighteen years old too. Asahi yelled at him, but then held him close. Neither of them had ever married anyone, but they stayed best friends for their whole lives, even living together.

Noya was speechless upon seeing Shouyou, but later hugged him and told him the team was never the same after he died.

Months later when they were all together, Tanaka said they should play volleyball since they were all young and hadn’t in such a long time. Shouyou refused and when asked why, he said, “We have to wait for Daichi and Kageyama.”

“You’ve been waiting for us all these years?” Noya asked.

Shouyou shrugged, “I can’t play without my team.”

 

X x X x X

 

Shouyou’s little sister died at age sixty-nine, of Natural Causes and appeared to be around thirteen years old. Shouyou cried when she said she remembered him and he spent a few days with her and his parents. 

 

X x X x X

 

One day when the whole team was with Hinata, he felt a tug at his heart and when he looked up he knew everyone else had too. When they got to the field Kageyama Tobio lay there. We was eighty-two years old but looked sixteen and died of Natural Causes. 

Shouyou burst into tears when the first thing Kageyama did upon opening his eyes was cry. He saw his team around him, and Shouyou kneeling in the grass next to him. “Shouyou…” He whispered, before tugging the orange-haired boy into his arms, sobbing openly. “It’s been so long, I’ve missed you so much. I thought about you everyday.”

“I’ve missed you too, Tobio. Welcome home,” Shouyou whispered. 

A few days later while Shouyou was sitting on the volleyball court, Kageyama walked over to him holding a volleyball. “Do you want me to toss to you?”

“Not yet.”

“Why?”

“Everyone isn’t here yet.”

 

X x X x X

Sixty-five years after Hinata Shouyou died, Sawamura Daichi arrived in the Afterlife. Daichi died at age eighty-five of Natural Causes and looked twenty. When he saw Suga, he sobbed and Suga held him close. When he saw Shouyou, he pulled him into a fierce hug, telling him how much he missed him. 

The very next day, Shouyou stood on the volleyball court. 

On the sidelines were Coach Ukai, Takedo-sensei, Yachi and Kiyoko. On the other side of the net was Tsukki smirking at him, Narita with a grin on his face, Kinoshita practically shaking with excitement, Daichi, watching everyone with pride and Suga, grinning and giving him a thumbs up. On Shouyou’s side of the next, he stood in the middle blocker position, Kageyama in the setter’s position wearing a genuine smile, Nishinoya in the libero’s position bouncing on the balls of his feet, Ennoshita making faces at the other side and Asahi adjusting the headband he hadn’t worn for years.

Ukai blew the whistle and the ball was served to the other side of the court, returned, received by Noya, then Kageyama was rushing forward, tossing the ball up into the air to be spiked then Shouyou rushed forward and he soared.


End file.
